Fashion is ever changing where designers are pushing fashion boundaries to the point of not only revamping old fashion trends, but creating new ones as well. This is evident because the plentiful of creators rely on trying to push out the latest styles in their shop to gain recognition from prospect and current customers to purchase from their shop. However, the creator community works differently than the real life fashion industry. Plagiarism, even theft of conceptual design, is extremely prominent in our virtual world. Unfortunately, no one can answer as to why specifically, but ultimately one general assumption can be made, for the virtual coin!
Money is the motive, or in this case, credits. Our virtual currency is something that many aspire to attain. Why? Because that’s how we supply our virtual inventory. We buy clothes, furniture, rooms, poses, anything and everything to make our virtual lives ideal to our perspective. Yet, when it comes to the few that have the skillset (not always the case) or the patience (still not the case) to open a shop and create, only the rules set forth by IMVU are considered (barely).
Creators have no set standards to apply when respecting one another's creativity. I mean for heaven’s sake, people download programs to steal the maps and textures of someone else’s hard work to put it in their own personal shop, claiming it is their own work, just to gain some virtual sales and clout. There are even some creators of higher rapport that either purposely check out creator’s shops of lower rapport or new products page to see what someone has made and remake/steal the concept or texture and submit into their shop ultimately stealing the thunder of someone else. And there then are creators that purposely only create name brand products or boost their products by doing B4B (buy-for-buy) or creating false accounts and buying their product to move it up in shop pages. I mean I can go further into detail, but I can be here forever just going through all the debauchery.
Just like people respect and love the pre-made, repaint artwork that artist users draw and sell, how come the same respect isn’t given to fellow creators? Why don’t you make sure that no one else made what you are about to make out of respect so everyone can be shopped equally? Why take the idea of someone else’s creation and drop the same identical product in your shop just because your name is more recognized? Why go room hopping asking people to buy your product and you will buy theirs, hoarding on products you don’t care for, forcing the popularity of your product when everyone has the same agenda to have individuals shop them? We as a community rarely do anything to help one another out so we can enjoy our experience and creativity that we are sharing, literally, with the world. The need to step on toes and claim to be better than someone else always seems to cloud our judgement and ultimately leaves bad taste in the mouths of those in the creating community.
Sadly, many won’t care about what was just said, and will go about their fuckery business in boosting their shop however possible; but if we don’t do something to make this more enjoyable… ultimately we are ruining it for ourselves. Our weakness as a community will eventually crumble to the hands of the newcomers that have learned from our waves instead of us being role models the make the virtual world more pleasurable for years to come.